This album's able to participate in any old-school Death Metal fan's 'best of 2008' list, even if it's still April. WARMASTER - hailing from the dreamy Dutch ground - see their first release 'sheltered' in the Dutch Metal Records 'umbrella' and BOLT THROWER and 'primitive' SIX FEET UNDER followers have just found another bombarding act to put faith in.
First War - first of all - is completely 'Metal'. No 'nu', no NWOSDM, no ladies (OK, the BOLT THROWER case does not fit in here, haha!); if you grab the chance to surf to the quintet's official  or MySpace site just only to get a taste of some audio samples you'll initially discover whether you're 'in for the kill' or 'out of the blue'. With only four years of existence and just a debut album, the 'bulldozer' beast named as WARMASTER will smash your bones and splash your brain cells with untold might and infinite groove. Yes, OK, well, the references to (mainly) BOLT THROWER or ASPHYX or (to the other side) OBITUARY are more than obvious and...who cares? If you're not torn to pieces by the time Silent Scream ends, sue them, haha!
OK, serious: nice, very nice not (in general) fast 'old' Death Metal played really loud, with enough of professionalism and not a tiny tendency to sound up-to-date. 35 minutes (even this sector is old-school) of mid-pace pounding with some applicable rhythm section (the snare drum's production could be better...sorry) and dissent guitars with tons of riffs in service (mostly the European 'way') even if I'd oppose somehow to the mastering done, not awarding the guitarists' effort with a 100% heavy load-ed sound, but this does not prevent WARMASTER from showing their teeth in cold blood.
Corne Bijlemeer's savage in Unleashing Devilment, he's a wolf in In Cold Blood and - in harder parts - growls like there's no OBITUARY around. Distorted? I would not say so. 'Deceased'? Hell, yeah!
Nothing more to be added here: the bands named above and only can act as your most certain criteria to purchase First War or not. Surely a recommended release, as far as I 'get' old-school Death Metal anno 2008.

PS: A very smart intro, needless to say. Very very smart!